not resist. She will take you shopping and you will let her… Because your sister’s miserly ways will not stop you from attending this ball.”
Percy grinned at that. “She might actually loosen the purse strings if it means being able to accept such a coveted invitation!”
“Yes, but then she’d insist on picking your gown—and I’ve seen her drawing room.” The last was uttered with a shudder of distaste.
“You must be very jealous of how fashionable it is,” Percy teased.
“Indeed, I daresay I’ll pine away to nothing if I don’t have one for myself,” he agreed flatly.
From a distance, Gibson, followed the couple. She couldn’t make out all of what they were saying, but they did look quite cozy. Mrs. Fennelworth had trusted her, as any woman of breeding ought to trust her ladies maid, to see what that rogue was about. Her mistress had asked her to get to the bottom of things and that was just what she meant to do.
Dodging a stone, she nearly stumbled into one of the trees that lined the path. A loud oomph escaped her and the housemaid that followed them as a chaperone glanced in her direction. Hunkering down, Gibson held her breath and waited to see if she’d been discovered. But when the couple and their chaperone kept walking, she moved in closer.
It was quite clear from the way he flirted and carried on that he couldn’t possibly have honorable intentions. To her mind, no man’s intentions could be trusted lest he was standing at the altar with a pistol at his back. She’d known his sort before. He was after something and she hardly thought it would be Miss Blake’s hand in marriage. Truth was, for a woman of Miss Blake’s advanced years, she’d be more likely to get into Parliament than to get a husband.
As she strained to listen, she heard only a handful of words. Exposed. Ball. Viscountess. Coveting. Another lady I wish for. Pining away. They were plotting against someone! He was using Miss Blake to make some other woman jealous! And her very generous employer was being duped by her own sister into thinking such a man would actually be courting a spinster like her. Oh, Gibson thought, her mistress would be dying to know that. With her little morsel of information, she slunk away, determined to make it back to the house before anyone detected her presence.
CHAPTER FIVE
Olivia had just sat down to dinner with her husband. Soup had not even been ladled into their bowls when the butler entered the room and cleared his throat with obvious annoyance. “Mr. Algernon Dunne, my lord, my lady.”
She saw Burke grimace and lean back in his chair, clearly annoyed by her brother’s high-handedness in showing up both uninvited and unannounced. Biting the inside of her cheek not to laugh as Algernon strolled in, it was obvious from his rather puffed up posture that he was clearly pleased with himself. She covered the small sound that escaped her with a muffled cough. Once she’d regained her composure, she instructed, “Have another place laid for him.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Most people announce they’re coming over… or better yet, they wait to be invited,” Burke spat out.
“The devil will be ice skating before you invite me to dine,” Algernon retorted. “But I didn’t come to see you anyway. I need to speak with my sister.”
“You mean my wife.”
“She was my sister first and she wouldn’t be your wife at all if I hadn’t intervened,” Algernon replied caustically.
“She’d have been my wife a hell of a lot sooner if you’d not interfered the first time round!” Burke all but shouted.
“Must we have this argument every time the two of you are in the same room?” Olivia demanded. “Algernon, you do not need an invitation. You are family and will always be welcome. Isn’t that right, Burke?” When her husband stayed silent for a heartbeat longer than was acceptable, she kicked him under the table. “Burke, that requires an answer.”
Her husband grumbled something that sounded vaguely like the words whatever and happiness. Knowing it was the best she’d get out of him, Olivia smiled. “There that wasn’t so hard.”
“Are you certain?” Algernon asked. “He looks to be on the verge of apoplexy.”
Olivia gripped the edge of the table rather than give in to the urge to strangle them both. She’d thought, after nearly a year of marriage, they’d have gotten better. Instead, their animosity only seemed to be growing. “Was there something you needed, Algernon?